XRL Faces Ticketing Problems To Some Destinations

Roundtable lawmaker, and former KCR chairman, Michael Tien says the news that tickets on the controversial Express Rail Link may not be available to certain mainland destinations is totally unacceptable.

"My understanding is that you can actually purchase the tickets online point-to-point, meaning you can connect to any other city with the express rail connection, via internet," he said. "But still, if you cannot provide the same service for the walk-in passengers, I think it's a major disappointment."

Tien said many elderly people don't use the internet.

MTR Corporation chairman Frederick Ma made the comments about potential problems with the ticketing system after appearing on a radio programme on Sunday morning. He gave cities in Tibet as an example. Ma said officials are working with mainland authorities to solve the problem.

Tien said Ma may have just been trying to lower expectations but he was also strongly critical of the train schedules.

"And what is actually making the whole thing almost to the point of being ridiculous is the Express Rail, from West Kowloon to Shenzhen North and to Guangzhou South, runs at 15 minute intervals. But the trains from these two stations, inter-change to distant cities like Wuhan, Changsha or Tibet, they run at most an hour, two hours."

Tien said, if you cannot have a direct connection, it would make more sense to fly.

Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan also said she is very surprised to hear about the ticketing problem. Chan, who is the convenor of the Co-location Concern Group, said legislators were not told of the problem even though they had twice visited the future terminal at West Kowloon.

"I really can't understand why the government would take such a laid-back position," she said. "I think if we spent such a large sum of money, we should have the most updated system."

At the same time, Ma warned the link to Guangzhou may not be able to open in September as planned if it is not approved before the Legislative Council's summer break.

The link is controversial because part of the West Kowloon terminus will become mainland territory, so passengers can clear customs before they board the train. Pan democrats, including Chan, say this is against the Basic Law and have been trying to block approval for this so-called Mainland Port Area in the Legislative Council.

On its Express Rail Link website, the MTR estimates the cost of the link to be about HK$84 billion.